Latest News and Events

CHINED VI

From the 21st-23rd June 2017, the Centre will play host to CHINED VI: The Social Implications of Genre in Historical News Language. We are delighted to be welcoming our delegates from across the world, as well as our three keynote speakers: Susan Fitzmaurice, Marcel Broersma and Colleen Cotter.

The conference programme is now available to download and view on the right of our News & Events page.

Taylor & Francis Online Special Issue

Compiled by Professor Bob Franklin, this special issue is comprised of articles collected from across several highly-prestigious academic journals, each with an original and thought-provoking insight into the wider discipline of 'Journalism History'. The issue is available through the link above, as well as through our News and Events page.

Centre announces two new conferences

The Centre is delighted to announce two prestigious conferences that will be run out of Sheffield in 2017.

Firstly, in June 2017 the University of Sheffield will be hosting CHINED VI: The Sixth International Conference on Historical News Discourse. CHINED VI will focus on The Social Implications of Genre in Historical News Language, and has been organised by four of the Centre's members: Prof Martin Conboy, Prof Adrian Bingham, Dr. Marcus Nevitt and Minyao Tang.

In September 2017, the Centre - in partnership with Dr. Jason McElligott and Marsh's Library - will be hosting Cato Street and the Revolutionary Tradition in Britain and Ireland. This conference welcomes abstracts for presentations exploring the Cato Street plot itself, as well as the broader contexts of revolution in Britain and Ireland.

The website and CfP are both live, and we welcome abstract proposals of up to 500 words. Proposals should be sent directly to Christopher Shoop-Worrall - the submission deadline is 31st March 2017.

"The main virtue of Adrian Bingham and Martin Conboy’s book, Tabloid Century: the popular press in Britain, 1896 to the present, lies in its refusal to be overly judgemental," he writes.

Noting the significant role tabloids have play in Britain's history – the only country to have "created a nationwide tabloid culture" – Greenslade also praises the way Bingham and Conboy "dispassionately record the way in which popular newspapers recorded what happened in Britain and, in so doing, also helped to shape events."

More on Tabloid Century can be found below in Recent Publications.

The Centre for the Study of Journalism has had a busy academic year, including our conference, "Communities of Communication: Newspapers and Periodicals in Britain and Ireland from 1900 to the Present", which took place in September 2014. A second conference – 'Communities of Communication II: Newspapers and Periodicals in Britain and Ireland from 1800 to 1900' – will be held in Edinburgh in September 2015. Both conferences are aimed at scoping a three volume series, The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, edited by Centre Director Prof. Martin Conboy and Prof. David Finkelstein (Edinburgh). More information can be found on the News and Events page.

Also in 2014, Centre member Dr. Marcus Nevitt hosted the conference: Seventeenth-Century Journalism in the Digital Age, which took place in November and capped a two-year AHRC-funded project, 'Participating in Search Design'. This conference looked at the challenges and opportunities for historians using digital archives and resources to study journalism in its early forms.

Recent publications

In 2015, two books were published showcasing the research of Centre members. The first of these is The Routledge Companion to British Media History, edited by Martin Conboy and John Steel and also featuring contributions by centre members Adrian Bingham, Scott Eldridge II and Marcus Nevitt, published by Routledge. James Curran praised this book, saying: "This will be the first port of call for students and lecturers around the world wanting to understand British media history. It covers a wide spectrum, summarises existing research, and breaks new ground. It is a landmark book."

Also in 2015, Adrian Bingham and Martin Conboy published Tabloid Century: The Popular Press in Britain, 1896 to the present, with Peter Lang. This book offers "a concise and accessible historical overview of the rise of the tabloid format and examines how the national press reported the major stories of the period, from World Wars and general elections to sex scandals and celebrity gossip."

About the Centre

The Centre was formed in Autumn 2009 to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research on journalism and history. We aim to use seminars, research projects and publishing ventures to set up dialogues about using journalism both as a source for understanding the past, and for clarifying ideas about the public sphere, language and discourse. We are particularly interested in developing robust methodologies for exploiting digital archives of journalism content.

Aims

To be at the forefront of interdisciplinary research into the journalism of the past and to provide a focal point for scholarly debates in this field.

To set up dialogues about using journalism both as a source for understanding the past, and for clarifying ideas about the public sphere, language and discourse.

To provide a focus for methodological conversations about the exploitation of digital resources.

Spotlight on: Marsh's Library

Marsh's Library is one of the Centre's linked institutions, more of which are listed in the sidebar above.

Marsh’s Library is a beautifully-preserved library of the Enlightenment located right in the heart of Dublin. It houses important collections of European books and manuscripts from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. There are around 30,000 printed volumes, and 300 manuscripts.

When it opened in 1707 it was the first public library in Ireland. The interior of the library has remained largely unchanged over the past 300 years, and visitors come from all over the world to admire the architecture and soak up the atmosphere.

Marsh's is an active research library which teaches undergradaute and graduate courses in book history and print culture, and welcomes visiting scholars from across the globe. The catalogue of holdings is available at: marshlibrary.ie

Enquiries

For information, or to join our mailing list, contact the Directors of the Centre, Prof Martin Conboy (M.Conboy@sheffield.ac.uk) or Prof Adrian Bingham (Adrian.Bingham@sheffield.ac.uk). Enquiries about supervision for postgraduate research on journalism and history are welcomed.